


How It Should Have Ended

by ouchsolo



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Fix-It, Reylo - Freeform, The Rise of Skywalker - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:29:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22045639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ouchsolo/pseuds/ouchsolo
Summary: Leia Organa didn't go to the force because she had one last thing to do: Save her son.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey & Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 5
Kudos: 60





	How It Should Have Ended

Darkness. The harrowing cold. How do you get there? _Rey_. Sometimes doing the right thing gets you places you never would have expected. A place that is so empty it’s like nothing has changed because there’s nothing to compare it to. The thought that one evil disappears and another comes to replace it still occupies the recesses of your mind. Maybe it’s scarier, maybe it’s louder, maybe it’s bigger and taller or has more teeth. However, nothing can be as terrifying as knowing that everything you sacrificed to defeat the evil has been in vain. _Rey_. The people you loved left behind, the people you fought for, left to a fate you will never see. Him- alone. Did he ever make it out? Of course he did. He always did. Where will he go? _Rey._

_Where will I go?_

Ben held Rey’s body in his arms. His lips trembled, his body ached. “Help me, please.” Like a child lost in the dark woods he called out, with nothing but silence to meet him. With pleading eyes he looked around the cold unfeeling stone that surrounded him. Nobody was there, nobody would come. He pulled her closer to his body, feeling every curve and angle she possessed, letting her hair brush against his cheek. “Rey, please don’t leave me.” his voice cracks, weakened from every possible ailment the human heart could endure. Ben relaxes his grip and rests her head in his hand, supporting her neck. He stares at her for a moment.

_I know what I have to do._

Without thought or pretense or hesitation, he rested his hand gently on her stomach and closed his eyes. He had nowhere to go. Rey was his home. She was the only light he’d ever known. Giving everything to save her was the only option, and he supposed it’s what he deserved.  
With every breath he took he felt the life slowly slip away from him. He thought it would feel more painful, like slow and unending paper cuts on every surface of his skin, but it was rather peaceful. This was the only way. Rey deserved to live, he did not. He watched on as unforgivable things happened around him, nobody would ever forgive him. His parents were gone. Rey would live on and she would always have a piece of him, and that would be enough.  
As the cold stone beneath him began to seep its way into his soul he felt it was time for him to go. Rey would wake up and he would be gone. Only moments left, he thought. His body got heavier and heavier with each passing second, he wasn’t sure how much time had left when suddenly,  
“Ben.” A voice, as gentle as the winds and as familiar as the sun echoed in his head, followed by a hand on his shoulder. His eyes opened.  
Turning to face the glowing shape next to him, Ben felt as his strength began to return. It wasn’t the Jedi, or Luke, or his grandfather. It was his mother. Leia had come for him.  
“Mom.” He said as tears welled in his eyes. Someone had really come for him.  
“Your story isn’t over, Ben. Fight for what you love.” Ben stared at his mother, stunned and relieved and heartbroken, when he felt another hand place itself on top of the one he had on Rey’s stomach. He looked down and saw her-  
She sat up quickly, her life already flowing through her and radiating around her like it always did. She was alive. Any despair he had felt was gone, and for once he had everything he ever wanted. As the pair stared at each other Ben kept hold of the back of her neck, supporting her, refusing to let go of her, afraid she might dissolve if he even for a moment lost his grip.  
“Ben,” a smile illuminated her features, and Ben swore he’d never seen anything so beautiful in the entire galaxy. Her freckles were perfectly placed and her eyes were full of amazement he could never look away from. It was Rey in every sense.  
Her hand came up to gently caress Ben’s cheek, and for a brief moment she examined him, before pressing their lips together firmly. Immediately, as if on instinct, Ben wrapped his arms around her, holding her so tightly against him so as to insure she was real. Every possible emotion was running through him, every feeling he didn’t know how to feel or how to cope with, and every fear suddenly eliminated. That single kiss gave the room the warmth of a thousand suns, and he was sure if he had died that this would have been a perfectly fine way to go.  
After a moment of pure bliss Rey finally pulled back, and they returned to staring intently at each other. Disbelief and hope and peace radiated between them. He was happy, and so was she.   
“You saved me,” she said at nearly a whisper.  
“Not alone.” he replied, as a smile grew on his features. A smile he had never experienced before. One of pure bliss.   
The pair stayed like that for what felt like hours, but really it couldn’t have been long until Rey suggested they return to base.  
“I can’t go there. What will they think of me? Of you?” Ben knew that he was blamed for every wrongdoing in the galaxy, even though now, with palpatine gone, he didn’t hear or feel a single sinister thought. It was finally quiet.  
“It’ll be okay. Let’s go home.”

The scene from their X-Wing was unlike anything Ben had ever scene. Hundreds of people hugging and smiling and rejoicing. This was what it was like to be thankful.  
The landing was one full of many thoughts, and Ben feared facing all the individuals he hurt. There was only a bit of metal between him and the hatred of an entire planet full of people. Then again, it had to be faced at some point.  
Rey didn’t say anything, just opened the top hatch as if he weren’t about to meet an even more fatal end than being thrown down a pit.  
As she jumped out she reached her hand up for Ben to follow. He took it, of course, and as his boots touched the green earth every anxiety in his body had heightened. Thankfully nobody had noticed him yet. He was taking a moment to take it all in, the greenery and the people. It was dreamlike.  
However he didn’t get long before Rey had began pulling him through the crowds as if he weren’t their enemy ten hours prior. At that moment people began to notice.  
“Ren.”  
“Kylo ren.”  
“What is he doing here?”  
Ben internally cringed at the name, as it was now a cruel reminder of the fate that he would have met.  
“Rey, maybe I should have waited.” He said in a desperate attempt to get her to stop, but it wasn’t until she saw Finn and Poe ahead of her that she stopped. Everyone else stopped around them  
When Finn caught sight of the large man clad in black and covered in Sith dirt and remains, he immediately pointed a blaster at Ben. Ben wasn’t surprised, but was surprised when Rey stepped in front of him, even though her body only covered half of his.  
“No! Finn, Poe, we need to talk.”  
“Rey, what the hell is Vader Junior doing here?” Poe also had a blaster ready to fire at Ben, but could only stare in response, taking all of his energy to resist rolling his eyes.  
“Vader junior came to help, if that’s okay with you, General.” The crowd looked back and forth between Ben and Poe, wondering what either were supposed to do.  
“Just put your blaster’s down, both of you. He’s turned.” Rey began to slowly step to the side of Ben once again, making sure nobody else had any thoughts of destroying the ten minutes she finally had to be around him. Finn and Poe listened, reluctantly.  
“Turned into what? A mess?” Poe said in response. Finn snickered.  
“The hairless ewok is judging my fashion choices after we just saved his life, incredible.” Rey looked over at Ben’s words, shocked at what had come out of him before a small laugh escaped her, followed by a few from the crowd.  
“Okay Kylo-”  
“Ben,” Rey snapped.  
“Ben? Okay, uh, Ben, let’s go talk.”

_And they lived happily ever after, in a galaxy far, far away._


End file.
